Monday, May 31, 2010

South Bank Show, The (1978) TV series 1978-2009

A television arts magazine show, originally made by London Weekend Television (now part of ITV Studios), presented by Melvyn Bragg, broadcast on ITV1 and seen in over 60 countries worldwide — including Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Sweden and the USA. Its stated aim was to bring both high art and popular culture to a mass audience.

In May 2009, ITV announced that the show was to come to an end. Although it was originally reported that the show was ending due to Bragg's retirement, Bragg later made it clear that he decided to leave after they ended the show, and thought ending it was a mistake; according to him, "they've killed the show, so I thought, I'll go as well."

On Monday 28 December 2009 the final edition was broadcast featuring The Royal Shakespeare Company as its subject. Melvyn Bragg announced on this programme, after the final South Bank Show Awards in January 2010, there would be a series of ten 'South Bank Show Revisited' programmes transmitted in early 2010 featuring updates on previous South Bank Show subjects.